HurlyburlySean Penn is the burned and bottomed out casting director attempting to find his soul in the moral mire of Los Angeles.

PlotL.A. denizen and casting director Eddie (Penn) is just beginning to realise that he is drowning in a polluted sea of amorality, and he's a long way from the shoreline. The three closest 'friends' in his life (Spacey, Palmentari, Shandling) are equally dubious, and it takes the arrival of teen waif Donna (Paquin) for him to begin to wake up from his coke fuelled stupor.

VerdictThe story has something to say, but we spend so much time waiting for all involved to say it that what should be gripping and turbulent becomes arduous. The performances are all terrific, but this could have been over, done with, and infinitely more satisfying with a running time of less than an hour; Hurlyburly inadvertently makes a great case for the need for high quality TV.